5.  The applicant was born in 1952 and lives in Kočani.
6.  On 30 June 2000 the Ministry of the Interior instituted misdemeanour proceedings against the applicant, a driver employed by company B.E. (“the company”), for driving an unroadworthy bus. The proceedings also concerned the company and a responsible officer of the company. On 22 September 2000 Štip Court of First Instance (“the trial court”) convicted the applicant of a minor offence and ordered him to pay a fine in the amount of 2,000 Macedonian denars (MKD) (equivalent to 33 euros (EUR)). The applicant was ordered to pay the fine within fifteen days of the judgment becoming final. The judgment further specified the bank account to which payment of the fine was to be made. The court also referred to section 15(1) of the Misdemeanour Act 1997 (see paragraph 22 below), stating that if the applicant did not pay the fine within the specified time-limit, the court would enforce it by converting the fine into a prison sentence, on the basis of one day’s imprisonment for every MKD 1,000 owed. A reprimand was issued regarding the company and its responsible officer. This judgment became final on 27 September 2001 (Pkr.br.2149/2000).
7.  On 14 November 2001 the trial court ordered the applicant to pay the fine and appear in court on 26 November 2001 in order to submit proof of payment. As established in the course of the compensation proceedings instituted by the applicant (see paragraph 17 below), the letter informing him of the court order was served on his son.
8.  On 7 February 2002 a trial court judge responsible for the enforcement of sanctions converted the fine into a two-day prison sentence (“the detention order”). The detention order stated that:
“The [applicant] did not pay the fine, either within the time-limit set or after the court had ordered and warned him to do so ... In view of the foregoing ... the court has decided to enforce the fine ... by means of converting it into a two-day prison sentence.”
9.  On 12 February 2002 the detention order was served on the applicant in person. He was further informed that he would start serving the sentence on 15 March 2002 in Štip Prison. The prison was also informed of the start date of the prison sentence.
10.  On 13 February 2002 the applicant paid the fine. According to a payment slip of that date, the applicant indicated the number of the domestic case file in respect of which the payment was made (Pkr.br.2149/2000). He did not submit a copy of the payment slip to the trial court.
11.  As stated by the Government in their observations:
“On 28 October 2002 the applicant was arrested in his house. He was not informed of the reasons for his arrest. [The applicant] alleges that he was informed of the reasons for his arrest in the afternoon on 29 October 2002”.
12.  On 29 October 2002 and after he had submitted a copy of the payment slip, the applicant was released from prison. The release order issued by Štip Prison indicated that:
“[The applicant] is released on 29 October 2002 on the basis of a notification received from the trial court that the fine has been paid.”
13.  On 22 November 2002 the applicant contacted the Ministry of Justice with a view to securing an out-of-court settlement and the payment of MKD 310,000 (equivalent to EUR 5,060) in respect of non-pecuniary damage for what he claimed had been the unlawful deprivation of his liberty. By letter of 10 December 2002 the Ministry, referring to section 526 of the Criminal Proceedings Act 1997 (see paragraph 37 below), rejected the applicant’s request, stating that he had not presented any evidence that he had been wrongfully convicted or detained.
14.  On 17 January 2003 the applicant brought a civil action against the State claiming the same amount of money for non-pecuniary damage sustained as a result of the alleged unlawful deprivation of his liberty. He claimed that on 28 October 2002 he had been detained by police without being informed of the reasons for his arrest.
15.  According to the Government, on 23 March 2007 the trial court forwarded the applicant’s statement of claim to the Solicitor General (Јавен Правобранител) for comment. On 24 April 2007 the court set a date for a preparatory hearing (подготвително рочиште).
16.  During that hearing, which took place on 23 May 2007, the applicant stated that the signature on the delivery receipt concerning the court’s letter of 14 November 2001 (see paragraph 7 above) was not his. He stated that:
“... After I had received the delivery receipt regarding the court order for the payment of the fine, I contacted the company and asked them to pay the MKD 2,000. In February I again received a court warning letter to pay the fine ... under threat of [it] being converted into a prison sentence. After I had received that information from the court, I called the company within a day or two seeking to have the fine paid. The payment slip was prepared by the company for which I work and I immediately took the money that they had given me (in order) to transfer it to the court’s bank account. I did not submit proof of payment to the court ...
... I would like to point out that after I had received the judgment and the warning letter [stating] that the fine, in case of non-payment, would be converted into a prison sentence, I immediately contacted the company and paid the fine. However, I did not submit proof of payment to the court.”
17.  The court set two further hearings, the second of which took place on 19 June 2007 when it dismissed the applicant’s claim. The trial court held that the letters of 14 November 2001 and 12 February 2002 (see paragraphs 7 and 9 above) had been properly served on the applicant. As to the former, the court found that it had been served on the applicant’s son, who at the time, and as stated by the applicant, had been mature and could have understood the contents of that letter. On 13 February 2002 the applicant had paid the fine without notifying the court, despite the fact that he had known about the conversion of the fine into a prison sentence and his obligation to submit proof of payment to the court. The court, having been unaware that the fine had been already paid, had therefore issued an arrest warrant against the applicant. The court further held that on 28 October 2002 the police had gone to the applicant’s house and arrested him. As stated by the court:
“During [the applicant’s] arrest, police officers were holding the arrest order in their hands, but it was not handed over to [the applicant]. [The applicant] was not informed of the reasons for his arrest. The next day, [the applicant] was informed in Štip Prison that he had been detained for having failed to pay the fine [imposed in] case Pkr.br.2149/2000. Then, he informed the [prison officials] that he had already paid the fine in February and called his son, who brought the payment slip. On 29 October 2002 [the applicant] was released from Štip Prison. [The applicant] was detained in Štip Prison for one day.”
18.  In its decision, the court referred to the applicant’s attempt to seek an out-of-court settlement with the Ministry of Justice. It also addressed an expert report, which confirmed that the applicant had sustained non-pecuniary damage (mental pain and anxiety) as a result of his detention. Relying on section 141 of the Obligations Act 2001 (see paragraph 40 below), the court found that:
“... no responsibility for the non-pecuniary damage suffered by [the applicant] can be attributed to the defendant, which acted in compliance with the law.
...
The court has examined [the applicant’s] argument that he was detained in Štip Prison without [there being] any order [for that detention], but [the court] dismisses [that argument] as it has established, on the basis of [the applicant’s] statement made on 23 May 2007, that, at the time of his arrest, the police officers had the arrest order in their possession.”
19.  The applicant appealed against this decision, arguing, inter alia, that by paying the fine, he had discharged his duty and it had been the State’s responsibility to have in place a system of registering payments, including a payment such as that which he had made in the present case. The detention order, which had been served on him on 12 February 2002, had not contained any instructions requiring him to submit proof of payment. He further contested the trial court’s finding that the court order of 14 November 2001 had been served on his son. In this connection, he stated that no expert examination of the signature on the delivery receipt had been carried out. Relying on Article 5 §§ 2 and 5 and Article 6 of the Convention, the applicant complained that he had not been informed of the reasons for his arrest, that the proceedings had lasted too long and that he had been denied the right of access to court.
20.  On 10 September 2007 the Štip Court of Appeal dismissed the applicant’s appeal, finding no grounds to depart from the established facts and reasoning given by the first-instance court. It ruled that the applicant was responsible for the events related to his detention since he had neither paid the fine within the time-limit set nor notified the court of the payment once made. This decision was served on the applicant on 21 September 2007.